November 21, 2022 UPDATE
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 21.11.2022, 19:22
PENSIONS — The draft law on cutting spending with the special pensions will be finalized in a few days and submitted to the Government, Romanian Labor Minister Marius Budai said Monday. He explained that the minimum contribution period will be equal, if not longer than the one in the public pension system, that expenditure with the special pensions will be decreased and that the pension will not be bigger than the salary. Budai had been invited to answer, before the Chamber of Deputies, the questions of the USR representatives, in opposition, regarding the stage of reducing expenses with the special pensions and the concrete steps taken to observe the commitment assumed under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The European Commission has recently said that military pensions need to be reformed at the same time with the special pensions, and that Romania has to comply, as of next year, with the GDP share of 9.4% set for pensions. These are conditions for Romania to receive a positive answer to the third payment request for European funds.
COVID — COVID-19 no longer represents, at this moment, a public health issue in our country – the Romanian Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila, said on Sunday. In the last period, the authorities have reported between 200 and 400 cases daily and there are also reports that do not include any deaths. Alexandru Rafila emphasized, however, that any virus can be unpredictable from the point of view of its evolution, so the vaccination recommendation for the vulnerable categories is maintained, especially since the vaccine adapted to the Omicron variants of the coronavirus will soon be available in Romania. The anti-COVID-19 vaccination will be performed in the family doctor’ offices and in the vaccination centers opened in several hospitals in Romania.
CONFERENCE — Never, in recent history, has the Republic of Moldova needed the international community’s support as it does now, Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, said Monday in Paris at the third ministerial conference of the support platform for the Republic of Moldova. Aurescu gave assurance that Moldova can fully count on Romania’s support. The conference, initiated by Romania, Germany and France, focuses on emergency assistance options for the Republic of Moldova, in the context in which it faces major energy, economic and humanitarian challenges, against the backdrop of the brutal war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The presidents of France, Emmanuel Macron, and of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, are also participating in the event. At the previous conference, held in Romania’s capital Bucharest, the participants decided to grant financial support for Chişinău worth 615 million Euros.
INVESTIGATION – The Romanian MPs green lighted on Monday, by vote, the request of the Minister of Justice regarding the approval of a computer search in a file targeting the former mayor of Bucharest’s Sector 1, Daniel Tudorache. He is being prosecuted for illegal and overpriced purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate announced that it had started the criminal investigation of 56 suspects, legal entities and natural persons, including the former mayor Marian Vanghelie, local councilor in Sector 5 until 2020, and the former mayor Daniel Tudorache, currently a Social Democratic deputy, for illegal, overrated purchases. Prosecutors say that the group was founded and coordinated by Marian Vanghelie and that they managed to obtain more than 13.5 million Euros from these contracts.
POVERTY — 95% of vulnerable families in Romania cannot cover their children’s basic needs, in the context of the economic crisis, according to an opinion poll made public on Monday by Save the Children Organisation, on the World Children’s Day. Among these basic needs are medicines or medical investigations for health problems, food and education. More than one third of the households included in the poll have three or more children and 10% have five children or more. Almost all these families have indicated as their main financial source the amounts received from the state under the form of allowances, social benefits and scholarships. Save the Children Organisation has recommended the authorities to take urgent measures to ease the impact of the economic crisis on the lives of children.
DRILL – In Brasov County (center), at the NATO military base in Cincu, a joint exercise is taking place until Friday, in which 600 Romanian infantrymen are participating, together with soldiers from France, Portugal, Poland and the United States. The objectives of the “Black Scorpions” exercise are the joint training of the military and, implicitly, increasing the cohesion of the structures through training on the ground and tactical exercises with combat shooting. The personnel convoys and the more than 70 pieces of technical equipment will withdraw from Cincu on Saturday. (EE)
